“Physical activity is important for kids, adults, everyone. Metabolically it allows your body to perform well to avoid disease states, it’s just essential,”Dr. Sprouse said.

According to the CDC more than a third of children are overweight or obese and physical activity is crucial in bringing these numbers down.

Keeping that in mind, activity trackers are a great way to get you kids motivated and staying active.

“If normally you get 3,000 steps a day and you start wearing a tracker your goal is 10,000 and you get 9,500 could seem like a failure but that’s a huge improvement,” Sprouse said.

Dr. Sprouse says there are negatives, though.

“For some, they spend too much time staring at it and it’s like a game or it can be discouraging to see those numbers.”

Parents can still take the lead on making sure their kids are using the activity trackers in a healthy way by encouraging them to get their 10,000 steps and creating friendly competition among family members.

“I think that it’s good as long as we as adults put it into perspective and frame it for them,” Sprouse said.

“Speaking as a parent I know this, my son has consistently gotten 15,000-20,000 steps a day since he got his Fitbit. And on Monday, he got 30,000 after walking Lakeshore Park twice. So it’s been only a positive for us!” Abby said.